Professor Leitch made the claims at the Scottish Government's daily COVID-19 briefing on February 26 with Health Secretary Jeane Freeman.
Mr Leitch was responding to comments made by Professor Mark Woolhouse who said Scotland did not come close to eliminating COVID last summer as had been claimed by the Scottish Government.
The Professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh had said earlier this month: “Scotland was not close to elimination at any stage during this epidemic.”
Responding to Professor Woolhouse, Mr Leitch added: “We didn't eliminate the virus but we maximally suppressed it. We had a month with nobody dying of COVID, three months after a lockdown."